The Lego-based video which a local family shot for singer/songwriter Sinéad McNally’s single ‘Just For Today’ will be featured on TV3’s Late Lunch Live today between 2.30pm and 3.30pm.
Clodagh Carthy (née Malone), and her family were behind the creation of the new video, taking ‘Lego Sinéad’, around with them for much of last year. Amongst the locations they filmed in was in and around their native Jenkinstown and on Slieve Foy Mountain.
Clodagh shot the video after taking inspiration from Sinead’s track ‘Just For Today’ – from her 10,000 EP – following the death of her husband Ciarán from suicide last January. Amongst those involved in the video were her children Donal (12), Aisling (14) and Eoin (9).
To mark the video’s release, Sinéad has offered to donate all proceeds of the song to anti-depression charity Aware.
Meanwhile, Lego have also shown their support for the track by Tweeting Sinead a message. They said: “This is a beautiful song and video. Clodagh’s story is moving and inspirational. Thank you for showing us.”
You can read the full, moving story behind the video here.
Local singer/songwriter Sinéad McNally has released a special Lego animation music video for her track ‘Just For Today’.
Clodagh Carthy (née Malone), and her family were behind the creation of the new video, taking ‘Lego Sinéad’, around with them for much of last year. Amongst the locations they filmed in was in and around their native Jenkinstown and on Slieve Foy Mountain.
Clodagh shot the video after taking inspiration from Sinead’s track ‘Just For Today’ – from her 10,000 EP – following the death of her husband Ciarán from suicide last January. Amongst those involved in the video were her children Donal (12), Aisling (14) and Eoin (9).
To mark the video’s release, Sinéad has offered to donate all proceeds of the song to anti-depression charity Aware.
Commenting on it, Sinéad said: “Exactly a year ago, through very sad circumstances I came to know a lovely young family who were fans of my music. They offered to make a Lego animation music video for one of my songs. Of course I jumped at the chance and throughout 2013, the children and their mum took ‘Lego Sinéad’ around with them filming her in different locations. The result is something really unique and so full of emotion.
“We all have times in our lives that we need to shut off from the world. I wrote ‘Just For Today’ when I needed to do exactly that. I never in a million years thought that a young family going through the loss of their Dad and husband would find themselves inspired to create something as beautiful as this video to accompany the song. It is these moments in a songwriter’s life that you are reminded of the power that music has and the amazing ability music has to help heal and soothe the most difficult and tragic times in life.
“I am donating proceeds of the song to Aware and I hope that their story, their video and my song will touch lots of you over the coming days.”
Clodagh said she recorded the video as a thank you to Sinéad for her song ‘Just For Today’, which helped her Ciarán’s death early last year.
“When I chose to make a video for this inspirational song, ‘Just for Today’, I chose it because I identified with every word. It verbalised exactly how I was feeling. I didn’t realise at the time that it would become such a presence in my life and in my kid’s lives.
“I lost my precious husband to suicide in January 2013, father of three kids aged 13, 11 and 8. Thankfully we were cushioned by the generosity, kindness and support of family, friends and neighbours. But all of a sudden my head was dealing with funeral arrangements, finances, legalities, doctors, not to mention my own complex emotions and those of the kids and our efforts to rebuild our lives.
“When I heard the song, the strongest emotion I felt was liberation because ‘Just for Today’ gave me permission to clear my head, to take time out, to be on my own for a while and announce that ‘I know what I’m doing. Leave it to me’.
“All summer the kids and I took our little Lego Sinead with us everywhere. The first scene is a dawn breaking, which symbolises hope for us in our new lives. The second scene was filmed at the Annual National Sand Sculpting Competition in Bettystown, a competition we enter as a family each year, but which took extra effort this year because our hearts weren’t in it. But little Lego Sinead encouraged us to take part because we needed a busy scene for the video.
“The creativity and ideas needed for ‘Just for Today’ kept the children’s minds active. The possibilities were endless, including training snails to act, and our vibe was upbeat. We wanted mountain-top footage to finish the video which brought us on journeys in the footsteps of my adventurous husband, spending time in nature. So when the children went back to school in September I was ready to ‘Clear my mind’ and spend a week in search of fluffy clouds and mountain tops, a week spent in solitude, clearing my mind, going over sweet memories and checking my internal barometer. Bliss.”
You can download ‘Just For Today’ from here for just 99 cents. A Lego fundraising event for Aware is also being organised.
SOSAD have announced that Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny has joined as a patron of the suicide prevention organisation.
The announcement coincides with SOSAD’s launch of World Suicide Prevention Week and should help the local organisation reach more of those people who are in need of the professional and caring support that SOSAD are known for.
At a press conference in Oriel Park this morning, Stephen spoke passionately about the work of SOSAD and expressed his delight and being asked to join such a worthy charity.
There were a large number of students in attendance as well as members of Dundalk Fire Brigade, members of Dundalk FC, local politicians, the media and members of the public.
In a statement, SOSAD said: “Congratulations to Gerry Duffy and his committee, as well as everyone in Dundalk FC, for a splendid launch.
“Stephen has done a super job taking Dundalk FC from the brink to the top of the premier league and in a similar way we try to help everyone who contacts us, whether they be depressed and/or suicidal and get them back to their own summit and help them learn to live their lives as normal as everyone else.
“So a very big welcome to Stephen and the very best of luck to him and the team.”
Despite suicide levels increasing steadily in Louth, our biggest suicide prevention organisation, SOSAD, still receives no government funding
Louth has been highlighted as an area of suicide concern after a new HSE report showed that the rate of suicides in the county has risen steadily since 2006.
The rate from 2006-2008 was 11.2 per 100,000 of the county’s population. This grew to 11.8 from 2007 to 2009 and the latest figures show it stands at 13.1 for the period 2008-2010.
The data in the report has been aggregated into three year moving averages, providing data for five different time periods in order to allow any potential trends to be identified.
Louth has been pinpointed in the report as an area showing a “steady increase”, along with Kerry, Laois, Offaly, South Tipperary and Westmeath.
The report also found that, relative to the national rate, a high rate of deliberate self-harm was recorded for men living in Louth.
The latest stats show that per 100,000 of population, only Offaly, Kerry, Leitrim, Cork, Laois, Westmeath, Tipperary North and South and Waterford had higher levels of suicides than Louth.
Despite this, the largest suicide prevention organisation in the county – SOSAD – continues to receive no government funding.
Louth GAA was praised in the report – titled the National Office for Suicide Prevention’s Annual Report 2012 – for their efforts in tackling the problem head on through education and openness.
Talk of the Town 